glimpse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A quick, incomplete look at something.

   From the window I could catch a glimpse of the lake.

2. 2
   verb

   To see something briefly and only partly.

   We glimpsed the singer as she got into her car.

3. 3
   noun

   A brief or partial understanding of something.

   The film gives us a glimpse into life during the war.

Common collocations

• catch a glimpse Verb + noun

The verb is derived from earlier glimse (obsolete), from Middle English glimsen (“to dazzle; to glisten; to glance with the eyes”), possibly from Old English *glimsian, from Proto-West Germanic *glimmisōjan, from Proto-Germanic *glimō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Doublet of glimmer. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates Middle Dutch glinsen (modern Dutch glinsteren (“to glint, glitter, shimmer, sparkle; to glance”), glimmen (“to gleam, shine”)) Middle High German glimsen (“to glow, smoulder”), glinsen (“to glimmer, shine”) Middle Low German glinsen, glintzen, glinzen (…

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